Yamaha Motif XS8

I started creating cool loops and sequences right out of the box. The sequencer is typically easy to use and using the stock beats and arpeggios is a fun way to get inspired quickly... but I am still having trouble figuring out how to use the pattern chain mode, the mode that lets you program the order in which sequenced parts will play. The manual isn't clear about using the editing functions for this mode...Instead I have to just hover over the keyboard and change parts manually when I am performing.

128 note polyphony, great job with a full sounding chorus and reverb section. The built in mixer is a nice feature. The sequencer is easy to use except for the above mentioned pattern chain mode. My unit did not come with the optional DIMM memory which you need to install additional sound banks...rats.

The brass section is great...some very realistic sounding horns and the synth horns like the oberheims are musical. The guitars sound good and can go from subtle cabinet emulations to over the top digitally effected types. The pianos sound decent but I wish there was more noticable variety between the patches. The synth patches leave something to be desired...the stock unit I got comes with a small bank of synth leads most of which are sort of generic. It features absolutely no vintage synths maybe Yamaha wants you to buy their expansion packs as soon as you purchase a motif. The synth pads are often too soft and won't act as a nice lush bed for you in a deeper mixing situation. The strings are fair with the usual orchestral, disco, and synth offerings. I do like the bass sounds which occupy a complete bank and are well varied and suited for many genres. I make synthpop, rock, anapop etc...music...so I was disappointed with the synth offerings. Be prepared to buy some DIMM memory if you are looking for Moogs, Arps, and other vintage goodies.

So far it hasn't crashed. It's a large board and heavy as all get out.

Yamaha has been unable to answer any of my questions concerning the pattern chain modes, and using this thing with Cubase. I can't get the unit to sync up with the software and no one seems to know why. Why can't I just run a USB cable out from the keyboard into my PC and get a signal? Help!

I like this unit enough to keep it around but next time I upgrade I will definitely shop a little longer and think in terms of maybe a Korg or Roland workstation. Previously I used a Kurzweil K2000 which I really love. The interface on the Motif is a little more user freindly than the Kurzweil but I think the overall quality of the sounds is about the same. Maybe you should buy one if you are an R&B producer for the drum kits and bass sounds. But if you are looking for synthy goodness try elsewhere. Maybe pick up a Roland Juno.

It takes a while getting to know this unit, but the usability is not that bad. The functionality you need is readily available, however not always in the spot you'd expect. The manual is extensive but rather useless at explaining the concepts inside this powerful workstation. On the other hand, it's extremely easy just to start playing and exploring the vast selection of arpeggios. Seriously lots of fun here.

This workstation is packed with features. See elsewhere for the details. There is both a pattern-based and a song-based sequencer for both MIDI and Audio tracks. Both variations are more than powerful enough to let you start making music with decent control.

The sounds are just amazing, great depth and expressiveness in quite a lot of patches, e.g. piano, flute, sax, wurlitzer, nylon guitar and loads of others. The arpeggiators add to the realism, particularly for the guitars, providing excellent and inspirational backup. I've been playing as a hobbyist for 20 years, and I've never had so much fun as with this one. It's a great instrument.

The unit was delivered with a broken key, but the dealer quickly repaired it. Otherwise, no problems. The unit is heavy and solidly built.

Decent service (but I was already hopping mad about that broken key)

The manual for this unit should be rewritten completely, explaining the concepts better before diving into the step-by-step tutorials. On the other hand, spending time learning it is quite rewarding, as the functions themselves are well-balanced and sensible - albeit not always placed sensibly.

If you can afford it, buy the workstation for its excellent sounds, arpeggiators and immediate ability to make music quickly.

Have XS8, used workstations and keyboards for years. SX8 is one of the worse. The instruction manuel is almost useless, sending you from one page to another; telling you to refer to this page or another w/o results. No straight clear instructions. The manual is terrible. You have to TRY and link them altogether to make sense and half the time you can't get an answer. Their troubleshooting page is a joke. Have problems with the touch control and pedal (been teaching paino and keyboard for over 25 years, never encountered these problems with others I've used or taught on). Not at all happy or impressed. perhaps if the instuctions worked (those you can find). Don't waste the money unless you're playing live.

terrible work station, probably due mainly to horrible manual

The touch control (ha! try finding an easy way, if there is anyway, to change this (every other keyboard (I've owned 6 and currently work with two) had easy access. I can't even find a way to change this, if there is a way (many have numbers)

only use it as a workstation (and a poor one at that) more frustrating then a nest of mice in your wall.

Company gave no answers or support -they didn't know the answers to my questions and would get back with me and didn't. had to find answers from an online music store who was gracious enough to help.

If someone stole it, i'd probably rejoice and use the insurance money to buy a different keyboard. been playing for over 40 years. sounds are okay, manual stinks company no help. Most frustrating instrument i have ever used. I do not use it live, but as workstation. and as a workstation, it sinks.

I have to say, this is buy FAR the easiest keyboard to use in this class. I'm sorry Mike P. is having trouble; maybe he's just used to another type of interface. I sat down with the "big 3" for several hours at the local Guitar Center and the choice was easy.

As a classically trained pianist, I was pleasantly surprised by the feel of the keyboard. It makes it a snap to articulate each note. My son says he can't tell the difference between the MOTIF and a real guitar.

Again, by far the best out there. I really wanted to like the Roland G8; I actually planned on buying that one after giving the others a "fair shake". I did love the big screen of the G8, but the sounds on the XS8 blew everything else out of the pond. The pianos cannot be beat and the strings are the best. The "sound effects" are par, but they aren't the reason I bought this workstation. Brass is definitely acceptable and the organs are excellent .

Haven't had to use them for the XS8, but my S30, of years gone by, threw a pot and I brought it to the Yamaha distribution center in Buena Park. They had my S30 back to me in about three days. I thought that was pretty impressive for the distribution center for the entire west coast. And they didn't charge me a penny, despite being out of warranty.

Same as above.

If it were stolen, I'd have to hunt the punkass thief down and slice him wide open. Oh, and then hide the corpse in the desert. I've played for thirty years and I have several other keyboards and software. The only thing I don't care much for is the lousy manual. Thank God for Motifator.com. They are a wealth of knowledge.

I have a Hammond B3 and played it for 35 years - started playing keyboards about 6 years ago. I have been a musican for about 45 years. My first board was a Yamaha PSR740, I liked it very much. I upgraded to a Yamaha 9000PRO which is one of the best musical keyboards you will ever find and very easy to use. I love it and used it for 5 years I still have and use it; played gigs with it. I liked my two Yamaha boards so much that when Yamaha came out with the Motif XS I wanted one. I feel I am very computer savvy and I feel I am a good musician. I purchased the Motif XS8 and I am beginning to feel as though I made a mistake getting this keyboard. It was expensive, the manual is very, very, very, poor not user friendly. I have had the XS for a week and
can't get the features to work. I can't get the drum patterns to run
while I play, very hard to navigate the menus. This keyboard is very
complicated, (PS my day job is - I am an electrical engineer)and I am
havin a hell of a time trying to use this board. My wife is a public school music teacher an she got so frustrated she wants me to return it and get my money back. I have 30 days from the date of purchase to return it. I sent away for a DVD tutorial from Yamaha; if I can't start using this board in the next 3 weeks ITS GOING BACK! I watched all the online reviews, read all the reviews, played it in a local music store, visited Yamahas site and did all my homework before I purchased the XS8. They don't tell you about the learning curve. Yamaha should provide a better manual and tutorials with this product. I am very, very frustrated. Yamaha makes very good products and I am sure that the Motif is everything Yamaha says it is, but this musician may not have the patience to find out!!
Mike P

Had this puppy about 2 months. Been playing for over three decades and have owned quite a bit of yammy gear over the years. The decision was between this, the fantom and the triton. The piano sounds, both accoustic and electric are very good. In terms of ease of use I have to say at this point I maybe understand about a third of what it can do. Owning other Yamaha gear will probably help and I find it more intuitive than some Roland stuff. Generally speaking All keyboard manufacturers should steal some of the ideas from the way Pro-tools systems are set up---that's intuitive! I find the sequencer the least intuitive but that's probably as much me as anything. I have not as yet been able to get it and cubase AI4 to work together but again that's probably my ancient mac or my ancient brain

128 poly is not a problem and I like to mix together the sounds from different units anyways. The effect are good and easy to use. Leslie sim is way improved over motif 8 (which I still own)

No expansion a la PLG--bummer

Have to supply sammple Ram (buy the kingston stuff-seem to work fine)

The sequencer is deep. I'm in the shallow end for now but to be honest , I usually sequence on a computer.

A DVI monitor out and mouse keyboard would be nice but I guess they want you to use Cubase

It would also be nice not to have at least some onboard sound storage ie a SATA drive, even if it added a 100 dollars to the price.

OTOH overall connectivity on this thing is up to date ie ethernet/firewire/USB/MIDI. Only thing missing is Blue tooth. Still overall very good

I own pianos, hammond/leslies/electric pianos. I've also owned a lot of vintage stuff ie Sequential/moog/roland etc. For years I go and play the new stuff and never get that "Vibe". What first got me onto the motif was the MO 8 which for live is killer but even more closed than the XS. For some sounds on this I am over the moon. The wurli sounds in particular are spot on. Harder to like is the B3 sounds but then again nothing feels the same as a 147 three feet away from the back of your head. On tape the organ sounds do sound good. I've never been a great fan of Yamaha's vision of what pianos are supposed to sound like-this includes their acoustic pianos . If you like the sound of their acoustic piano's you will like these and I'm learning to like them more. I wish however that they have included a sample set of something like a nice steinway upright or maybe even a Baldwin. Many of my fav piano recording were not made on 100,000 dollar pianos ie Joe cocker /Carole King--- Not every mix calls for that bright clinical sound. I don't want to make out like the piano is bad--its not but if you ONLY need piano sounds you might look at Kurzweil. The action is very very good for everything except trying to play fast B3 type licks. In a perfect world keyboards would an ability to switch action types for different types of keyboards--not in my lifetime probably. Strangely enough for electric pianos I prefer the original Motif but its a minor quibble. Overall touch response and sample velocity switching are really first rate and easy to tweak the elements and the overall sound quality, (including backround noise) is Studio A room quality.

Special note also, the XA guitar stuff is quite amazing. You won't fool your gitar player but you'll fool a lot of the general public, especially if you play guitar and know what IS possible to pull off on a six string

To me the weakest lot is the orchestral stuff. Flutes and clarinets fare the best, the sax stuff is ok but inconsistent. This is where Yamaha should be putting their best minds into taking advantage of the 8 element expanded articulation stuff. Maybe a breath controller?

A lot of the sounds are geared towards players the age of my kids. They sound fresh now but in five years? See final comments

Again don't get me wrong the overall caliber, range, and articulation of sounds is the best I found in the 3K price range but sound is ultimately what we are here for. Further more new sounds can be loaded up although I'm finding the process slow and confusing---if the manual blows --it blows biggest here but then again I'm completely foreign to Yamaha's sampler thinking. Here is an example where Propellerheads rock.

Yamaha gear is the most reliable gear I have owned. Most gigs I do are withing an hour of home so if it dies I can always grab a backup from home

Gripe here. Why are Yamaha accessories so much more expensive here in Canada. $!00 bux for an FC-7 pedal sheesh.

That said I have been able to order parts for my ancient SK-30.

As mentioned by many, motifator is a great site and there are others as well

Well despite everything else I've said in this review this is still an amazing piece of gear.

Pros: clear articulated acoustic intruments and the ability to truly create a first rate soundstage. Sound matters--right?

Comprehensive feature set. You really can do a full musical creation on this thing and the note sensitive arpeggios are cool-especially the bass programming




Great Sounding Drums--totally usable

Undeniable "makes you want to play" factor

What I would change if I ran Yamaha:

Form factor; does it really need to be so big(and heavy)(and deep)? First thing I'd do is move the pitch/mod/ribbon above the keybed- and shorten up the cheek block on the other side.

For as big as the sound library is, the ability to burn/otherwise have resident other sounds would be good and finally a tilting screen would be a welcome improvement

This review is obviously framed by my many biases:

I'm on the wrong side of 20,30, and 40
Sonic integrity is paramount
I'm an educator--I abhor obfuscation and value clarity.

I'd still choose this over whats out there but hope they will be able to update this hardware with firmware upgrades for a while

B

I used to own original Motif, loved it but I found the small monochrome screen is hard to work with. I sold it and then bought a Roland Fantom X8 thinking the bigger screen would help me but I can't seem to get used to the OS as well. I'm in process of selling it and decided to buy Motif XS8 and I did.

The color screen does help a lot (OS 1.07) but can be improved with either touch screen or tilt-able screen. The screen angle seems to pick up glare making it hard to see but minor contrast adjustment helped a lot so it's a non issue to me. If it still bother you, commercially available anti glare film would probably help.

With the bigger screen, more info can be show making it easier to use. The tabbing get a bit to used to but once you are proficient with it, you just 'fly' around it. Coming from Software programming background, I really like the OS.

As Jazz enthusiast, the acoustic presets are great. Pads also really sweet and the synth sounds are good but not as exciting as Korg M3 with its Karma 2 and KAOSS style pad though :-) Patch edit is pretty easy on the board itself but it also come with voice editor that can be stand alone or VST plugin for your DAW.

I think the manual is an improvement from my original motif. The information is still a lot (Yamaha style) but it seems to be more logically sectioned.

Polyphony is 128 which I think a bit of bummer for its price and year we are in.

The effects block implementation is great and provide more flexibility IMO, better than Roland Fantom X8.

PLG cards are no longer supported, another bummer. I heard it is due its limitation supporting Yamaha shifting vision to a new OS platform (Motif XS is MontaVista linux based) which I think a great direction for Yamaha to go. I can almost bet the next Motif would have some kind of expansion capabilities.

MIDI capabilities are great: 8 sliders, 8 knobs, both can be used as control surface for the included Cubase AI4 seamlessly. It also can be setup for other DAW like Sonar, etc. The keys are pressure sensitive with aftertouch, I do like Korg M3-88 keys better as it has a more real piano key feels.

Another bummer is that it doesn't have the setup for foot controllers polarity so you'll need to buy either compatible controllers or Yamaha's.

Acoustic presets, pads are excellent. Synth sounds are good in general but if you are into electronica it's probably more inspirational to do your stuff in Korg M3. I'd say get both if you are into both electronica and more acoustic oriented genres.

BTW, you can almost see the keyboards strength and weaknesses from their demos. If you checkout Korg and Roland, they are synth oriented, XS is more mellow (a lot of acoustical, jazz oriented and film scoring demos).

Built like a tank...

Might be a pain (or back pain waiting to happen) if you gig with XS8.

I haven't used its cust support for keyboard yet; however, I did use it for my DTXpress electronic drum which has a faulty ride cymbal. I got the replacement shipped free no question ask. Really good customer service.

I think this should have been the ES be in the first place (with expansion capabilities, more polyphony, and touchscreen or tiltable angle screen). If it was stolen I'd buy it again only if it's still far away from the next Motif line introduction :-)

I had this for about a week. I had Yamaha PSR-5xx series, original Motif, Roland Fantom X8 and Korg M3-88 (for a week, before I exchanged it with XS8). I chose the XS8 over Korg M3-88 due to its great acoustic patches. The Korg M3-88 is another great workstation with its detachable module, KAOSS style touch pad controller, RADIAS and KARMA 2, unfortunately I'm not into electronica that much and I prefer the acoustic sounds quality over phatt synth sounds. M3-88 has better key feels IMHO.

It's worth the price I paid ($2780). The tight Cubase AI4 integration to me worths the price since I like to do final tweak on DAW.

The only thing I hate about the thing is the weight and it's thickness (XS8 only). It's a gorgeous gear (I happened to like the color)

The Motif XS8 is the richest workstation when it comes to presets. Only a Fantom X8 packed with SRX cards can compare to the XS8. The manual contains information about everything you might be concerned with although it is somewhat technical and begginers will be overwhelmed. The UI is improved compared to the ES but more so in appearance than in actual timing/steps. Certainly better not the best. Big dissapointment was the screen angle both due to positioning and glare since it makes it difficult to work with. Cubase AI4 -comes bundled in- and MLANe2 add a considerable amount of extra ability/features but some will debate that exact fact takes away the independance needed on a workstation. Personally, that's not an issue for me because I use a PC most of the time anyway and find AI4 and MLANe2 Yam's comparative advantage to others.

128 Polyphony, VCM effects, 8 element voice structure, BH hammer with nothing new here or negative to say. Ram is expandable to 1 whole GB. Voice expansion capabilities are the big mystery here. Since Yam dropped the PLG cards it is not clear what Yamaha has planned. Certainly the presets are great -355 Mbs- but many will want to expand in certain categories of voices deeper where new waverom might be needed. Without PLG cards there's a gap there but we will know in the short future how this will evolve. Software integration with Cubase AI4 virtually allows you to complete every task necessary (the software is quite rich in features) and MLANe2 will give the necessary speed and networking framework to set up a virtual studio, but some have complained that this limits the independance of the workstation i.e the XS is only able to record in-board about 6 minutes of continuous audio. This is not an issue for a Fantom X.

When it comes to voices yamaha has included very very many in the presets (more than any other workstation) and quite a few are much impressive i.e guitars...

but even 355 Mb can't fit everything. So IMO although the Yam tech team has tried to include every voice genre in the Rom to end up with a well rounded keyboard (and mostly achieved this), Yam gave more weight to the popular genres (as rock, pop, hip-hop voices) and did not look into improving wind-instruments and strings (jazz, classical). It would be nice to have a way to get a bundle of voices for the genre of music you are interested in.
Furthermore, for Yam to make voices sound more authentic yamaha used a technology called Expanded articulation. With this you can incorporate through AF buttons certain playing techniques like slides and hammer effects on guitars.
IMO the manual nature of this control has many limitations since its difficult to use and to apply correctly. Furthermore not all sounds are 'articulated'. This is quite noticeable in wind instruments and some strings where Yamaha could of done better and these categories are still lacking (a wind instrument can have up to 9 articulations, in the XS it may have 1 or none). Yamaha apart from having several technologies that simulate such playing style (i.e VL for wind instr) has Super articulation from the Tyros2 which uses playing style and velocity levels to intelligently allow articulations to be employed while playing. This intuitive method would of been a great addition for the XS: Sup.Art. together with Exp.Art for wind-instruments. In a sense to have MANUAL AND AUTOMATIC control over voices(this does happen to some extent already) or at least to select how manual or automated you want the voices with some smart editing.
Hopefully this will be covered in future updates/expansions but nothing has been revealed to the public yet.
IMO I would of preffered maybe 2 trumpets and 2 sax's as long as they were heavily articulated.

Only minor problems have been reported. So far seems like this is a very reliable keyboard.

Yamaha in this department is a clear 100% winner. Although with hiccups once and a while that are exception to the rule, Yamaha is far ahead from other companies in this field.

Compared the board extensively to the Fantom X8. The XS8 has great value for its money since it's equivalent to a Fantom X8 packed with SRX cards for almost half the price. Nevertheless expansion boards like the VL will be missed.
If you don't work with a PC, the Fantom X is a more independant workstation. Otherwise the XS8 is the clear choice and with a PC opens many new possibilities.
For now overall I give the Motif XS8 an 8. This might evolve into a 9 in the near future depending on how Yamaha will deal with several open issues i.e MLAN drivers, expansion capabilities etc. IMO in its category the XS8 is the top workstation out there at this point in time.

Software version ?? Must be 1.0...it was just released. Presets are so killer, it is unbelievable...a lot like the ES, but a little more refined, and a lot more of them. Editing patches is now easier due to the larger, color screen...but make no mistake, this puppy is WAY DEEP...I can't wait for the release of the DVD manual.

128 voice polyphony...and a keyboard like butter. Tons of great effects...you can add up to 1GB of sampling memory, but the Smart Media cards can no longer be used, as well as the different PLG plug-in cards. It has USB, Firewire, and mLan outputs. The sequencer, like the ES, is GREAT and DEEP...expect to spend some time learning this thing.

This XS8 has the best keybed and action made...works extremely well, and responds to the many varied performance patches. Like I said, this has the best action made, including the OASYS 88 (which by the way, I spend hours with...and I far and away prefer the sounds and feel of the XS).

Hey...it.s a Yamaha. Do I really need to say more ????

I have only dealt with Yamaha Customer Support in as far as questions that I have had in regarding how to program/sequence. This company is stellar in that aspect.

If this were stolen, I would hunt the dog down and pummel him like a Golden Gloves bantamweight. At this point in time, I could not replace it, as I got one of the first units, and they are very hard to procure right now. I have suffered from G.A.S. for years, and still own a X88 Fantom, as well as a lot of Nord Stuff, a Virus TI, a Kurzweil PC1se, a C3/147, etc. The Fantom is a very cool piece of gear, but this Yamaha is the next generation, with more refinement.

The OS is horrible. It is slow, and even more unorthodox than the OS in the Motif ES. One would have thought that the LCD screen makeover would have improved things. Au contrare! The motherboard chip is apparently not powerful enough to power the screen graphics because there is a *nasty* screen redrawing delay when changing screens, and this will undoubtedly be a major annoyance (if not dealbreaker) for those who like to work quickly. It's hard to believe that in 2007 Yamaha has screen redrawing issues when even $400 Dell laptops can host state-of-the-art 3D games uneventfully. WOW. Hige disappointment here. The manual of course BLOWS. Don't even bother. But the TRUE dealbreaker is the WACKY angle of the LCD screen. Yamaha made it so the screen sits at an angle that picks up every glare in the room, and it is impossible to view from the seated position. Why they didn't offer an adjustable screen at this price point is completely baffling. In any event, the keyboard will be worthless to anyone who works from a seated position because the screen can only be seen clearly in the DARK. True story. Very sad.

Polyphony is still 128 voices. Keyboard action on the XS8 is every bit as good as the ES.No more expansion capabilities. Yamaha is bent on the idea that if you buy the Motif XS, you will use it with their newly-acquired product, Cubase. They have completely eliminated expansion boards. The XS sequencer is a MAJOR, MAJOR letdown. The ES sequencer was a dream to use: lightining fast, simple and conducive to breakneck pattern creation. The XS sequencer is a dog, hindered by slow screen redraws, TERRIBLE layout of parameters, and a pattern grid view that will hurt your eyes to look at. Yamaha never asked their user base how to take advantage of the new screen real estate, and as a result, the sequencer is--for most people--almost completely worthless. Then again, this is because Yamaha expects you to use their Cubase product with your XS. So for anyone seeking a true workstation, don't even bother with the XS. The ES has a far superior sequencer that rivals the simplicity of even MPC drum machines. The XS is nothing more than a computer interface for Cubase.

Strings are vastly improved, brass is decent, piano is slightly better. Bass guitars are still generally mediocre. Drums are almost exactly the same as the ES. Pads and leads are terrible compared to virtual instruments such as the Korg Legacy collection. Overall, the ES's sound set is about 95% as good as the XS's-- with the exception of performances, which are better in the XS. of course the XS has a ton of arpeggios for the rhythm-challenged. Personally, I don't use other people's sequences in my music so I couldn't care less about the arpeggios. The on board effects are almost identical to the ES effects. No major improvements in this department.

I'm sure it is reliable, but the buttons seem flimsier than they do on the ES. I think Yamaha took some shortcuts with quality. The XS is also bigger than the ES. My Motif ES has been incredibly reliable over the years.

Yamaha is in complete denial when it comes to the destruction of the Motif series. I have posted in their forums and they have systematically defended every single bad decision they made with the XS. They are just money hungry thugs like the rest of the major companies. Very sad. I thought they were different. :(

It is CLEAR Yamaha did not consult their loyal users when they designed the XS. The simply decided they had to make a keyboard to work better with their Cubase product, and that is the direction they chose. Unfortunately, they chose to call this new beast a "Motif," which is a complete MISNOMER of untold magnitude given the XS looks and behaves NOTHING like the Motif Classic or Motif ES. The XS is in a league of its own, and unfortunately it's a league designed for those who would rather sit in front of a computer and make music with a mouse, than use their $3,000 investment to make MUSIC. I am appalled with the new XS. I kept it long enough to grow completely angry with the unreadable screen, the slow screen redraws, the ridiculously complicated screen layout for the sequencer functions, and the HORRID AQUA color of this board sitting on my beautiful mahogany desk. For ANYONE considering a Motif XS, do NOT buy one IF you are seeking a true WORKHORSE WORKSTATION to ENABLE you to make great music. The XS is a complete MESS in this regard. If you need good sounds, you might as well buy a great vsti sample library from the likes of Native Instruments and a $500 MIDI keyboard. OR, buy an ES from the thousands of owners like me who mistakenly sold theirs thinking the XS would be the next great MOtif to take my music to the next level. I have an XS for sale, and I'll gladly trade it for an ES.